The Washington bee., 1887-01-01


et." The reading and thinking
portion of them were first aroused
f,om their political apathy by the
concerted action of the republican
governors of several southern
states recommending to President
Grant the disarming ofthe colored
militia in their several states,
thereby placing the Negro at the
tender mercy OF a bitter and unre-
lenting political foe. This awak-
ening was further aroused by a
report made by a republican COM
mittee of which Hon. Luke Poland
was chairman, in which the
"Brooks'' government, the recog-
nized republican party in Arkan-
sas. was politically slaughtered
and the Negro portion of that
party coolly told by Judge Poland
to make the best terms they could
with the white (democrats) people
of their state.
Again, when Rutherford B.
Hayes had the Presidency awarded
him by the Electoral Commission,
and soon thereafter repudiated
the vote of states which afforded
him the pretext of assuming the
reins of government, the thought
full Negro could not understand
wherein any political advantage
would result to him in adhering
to party which used his vote to
ride into power and then sacrificed
him. The Negro fought side by
side with the white man for the
preservation of the Union, his
blood enriches the battle field,
made historical, in many of the
southern states. After the war
aud peace came with it's blessings
the Negro became an important
factor in the body-politic, and
with a heart full of gratitude for
the party of Lincoln, Sumner and
Grant, he braved death in worse
forms than ever on the battl= field
to secure and maintain the ascen-
dency of that party, which had
raised him from ''a dead level to
a living perpendicular" in the psi
itics of this country. He remained
faithful and true, when some of
the ablest white men in the re-
publican party fell by the wayside.
He was |, yal when on account of
his politics his home was devasta-
ted and his wife and children
forced to seek protection in the
glades or the swamp. lie fought
single handed and alone in the
south for the republicans against
the democratic party, while the
brains and wealth of the republi-
eau party were used to prevent
educated and influential white
republicans from joining the
democratic contingent north. He
has been told again and again by
his democratic neighbor that the
republicans had no use for the
Negro other than his vote, that
the republican party as a party of
principle was dead, aud that those
administering upon it's estate were
mere place, men, for themselves,
not tor the Negro.
By contrasting the action of a
democratic President in nominat-
ing a respectable, intelligent and
accomplished colored gentleman
to lucrative position in the City
of Washington, with that of a re.
publican Senate rejecting him be-
cause as a colored man he chose
to exercise the right In common
with all white men to vote and
act with that party which com
mends itself to his judgment the
Negro has been forced against his
inclination to believe that the re-
pubIicans had substituted the
slavery OF the mind for that of the
body, and intend that their action
as voiced by republican Senate
in the Matthews case shall serve
as a note of warning to all free,
independent and thoughtful NeA
groes that abridgment of suffrage
awaits any and every Negro who
dares act and vote with any other
than the republican party. To
this the Negro most emphatically
objects, not only because it is
prospective, but because it strikes
at his manhood, and makes him a
creature of condition instead of a
free American citizen. We say
to our republican friends in the
Cy n